Marine sediments as a radioactive pollution repository in the world

During a time period little longer than 60 years, it has been created a radioactive pollution background over the natural one, which started in 1945 and it has been growing up since then, due to several nuclear tests, minor nuclear reactors failure and four major accidents: Wind Scale, Three Mile Island, Chernobyl and Fukushima. This radioactive polluting background can be easily detected through ¹³⁷Cs fission product, which by the effect of wind, river currents and rain has been accumulated in marine sediments, mainly because sea represents about 80 % of earth’s surface. Since energy demand has been growing up with no interruption during last two centuries, and nuclear energy seems to be the largest available source, it is very likely a great expansion of nuclear energy during twenty-first century. So, this paper presents results obtained in strategic points of the two large littorals in Mexico: Gulf and Pacific Ocean, as an attempt to establish there some figure to evaluate the present radioactive pollution. An adequate figure to do it, seems to be the quotient of activity per gram of ¹³⁷Cs in marine sediments (Bq¹³⁷Cs/g), divided by activity per gram of ⁴⁰K natural radioactivity (Bq⁴⁰K/g). When this result is multiplied by 100 the percentage of polluting radioactivity (¹³⁷Cs) related to natural radioactivity (⁴⁰K) is obtained. This percentage seems to be useful to evaluate the importance of radioactive pollution from 4 points of view: a) calculate the extent of already radioactive pollution present in the seas of world; b) avoid the panic in case of nuclear accidents, c) what will be the growing up rate in the future; d) if it is possible to keep one decreasing rate at same decaying rate of ¹³⁷Cs (t_1/2 = 30.07 years), since from 1945, starting time of radioactive pollution, it has decayed only about 2.2 half lives.     

Chalcogen Bonding in Co-Crystals: Activation through 1,4-Perfluorophenylene vs. 4,4′-Perfluorobiphenylene Cores

The ability of alkylseleno/alkyltelluroacetylenes such as bis(selenomethylethynyl)-perfluorobenzene (4F-Se) to act as a ditopic chalcogen bond (ChB) donor in co-crystals with ditopic Lewis bases such as 4,4′-bipyridine is extended here to the octafluorobiphenylene analog, 4,4′-bis(selenomethylethynyl)-perfluorobiphenyl (8F-Se), with the more electron-rich 4,4′-bipyridylethane (bpe), showing in the 1:1 (8F-Se)•(bpe) co-crystal a shorter and more linear C−Se•••N ChB interaction than in (4F-Se)•(bpe), with Se•••N distances down to 2.958(2) Å at 150 K, i.e., a reduction ratio of 0.85 vs. the van der Waals contact distance.     

Chaotic solitons in the quadratic-cubic nonlinear Schrödinger equation under nonlinearity management

We analyze the response of rational and regular (hyperbolic-secant) soliton solutions of an extended nonlinear Schro?dinger equation (NLSE) which includes an additional self-defocusing quadratic term, to periodic modulations of the coefficient in front of this term. Using the variational approximation (VA) with rational and hyperbolic trial functions, we transform this NLSE into Hamiltonian dynamical systems which give rise to chaotic solutions. The presence of chaos in the variational solutions is corroborated by calculating their power spectra and the correlation dimension of the Poincare? maps. This chaotic behavior (predicted by the VA) is not observed in the direct numerical solutions of the NLSE when rational initial conditions are used. The solitary-wave solutions generated by these initial conditions gradually decay under the action of the nonlinearity management. On the contrary, the solutions of the NLSE with exponentially localized initial conditions are robust solitary-waves with oscillations consistent with a chaotic or a complex quasiperiodic behavior.     

Correction to: In‑situ SEM High Strain Rate Testing of Large Diameter Micropillars Followed by TEM and EBSD Postmortem Analysis

Experimental Mechanics -     

Raman scattering study of glass crystallization kinetics

Laser induced glass-crystalline transition is studied by light scattering. Three significant effects are observed depending on the incident laser energy density: (i) Spectral band narrowing indicating cluster enlargement constitutes a precursor effect, (ii) an intensity increase effect indicates a rapid rise of the density of clusters attaining microcrystalline size and (iii) a dynamical reversal effect indicative of glass-crystalline instability. Cluster volume and crystallization appear as separate but related threshold phenomena.     

Computational studies,synthesis and biological investigations of N-[(p-bromo)carboxyphenyl]dibenz[b,f]azepine

With the aim to find new compounds with superior tranquilizer-antidepressant activity theoretical studies, synthesis, X-ray characterization and pharmacological test of the title compound were carried out. Theoretical studies suggested both tranquilizer and antidepressant activity and pharmacological tests proved it.     

AFM observations of latent fission tracks on surfaces: amorphous SiO2 and quartz

Preliminary results of a systematic AFM experimental investigation of the surface ‘track’ effects produced by the passage of fission fragments from a californium (²⁵²Cf) source into amorphous SiO₂ and quartz are described. Fission fragments from the source were collimated using a 10 μm thick aluminum foil and comprised fragments with the usual binary distribution of energies—light and heavy—79.4 and 103.8 MeV. Irradiations and AFM measurements were carried out in air at normal room temperature and pressure. Remarkably high sputtering yields/fragment were discovered, and in the case of crystalline quartz the ejecta was found to be arranged in an ordered manner. A brief discussion is given of a part likely to be played by electronic energy loss induced Coulomb explosion of target atoms for each point of fragment entry.     

Confinement of DNA in water-in-oil microemulsions

The study of systems that allow DNA condensation in confined environments is an important task in producing cell-mimicking microreactors capable of biochemical activities. The water droplets formed in water-in-oil emulsions are potentially good candidates for such microcompartments. The anionic surfactant AOT was used here to stabilize the droplets. We have studied in detail the DNA distribution and the structural modifications of these microemulsion drops by varying the concentration and molecular weight of DNA and using various techniques such as light, X-ray, and neutron scattering, electrical conductivity, and surface tension. DNA induces the formation of large drops into which it is internalized. The size of these drops depends on the amount of DNA dissolved in water as well as on its molecular weight. The local DNA concentration is very high (>100 mg/mL). The large drops coexist with small empty drops (not containing DNA), similar to those found in the DNA-free microemulsion.     

Long-range 1H-1H NMR correlation: extending connectivities to remote bonds via an intermediate heterospin

An out-and-stay 2D proton-proton NMR correlation experiment is proposed to detect long-range proton-proton connectivities up to six and seven bonds away. The magnetization flow pathway is based on a consecutive, dual-step J(CH)-transfer mechanism and it allows one to trace out (1)H-(1)H connectivities between protons belonging to different spin systems. This novel experimental scheme will be particularly useful in cases when carbon resonances overlap, providing connectivity information that could not be obtained in a HMBC experiment. The success of the experiment is demonstrated in the structural studies of a wide variety of chemical compounds.